2019

WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

As summer fades, Oakland County woodlands and meadows present new opportunities to forage from Mother Nature’s pantry. I look forward to many of our seasonal treats, especially the prized and often hard to find oyster mushrooms, the far more bountiful blackberries, wild grapes, elderberries and black walnuts. The delectable tubers of Jerusalem artichoke, as well as the invasive, but tasty and healthful, berries of autumn olive are other seasonal favorites of mine. Continue reading →

During Patriot Week, the imagination and support of citizens across the nation is captured and celebrated. The 10th anniversary of Patriot Week will be celebrated by honoring America’s First Principles, Founding Fathers and other Patriots, vital documents and speeches, and flags that make America the greatest nation in world history. Patriot Week begins on September 11th, honoring the nearly 3,000 Americans who lost their lives in 2001, and ends on September 17th, Constitution Day.

Hit the Oakland County pavement with the 12th annual McLaren Brooksie Way Half Marathon, 10K and 5K races on Sunday, September 22nd at Oakland University.

The Brooksie Way will allow runners and walkers to have fun and support programs that encourage a healthy, fit, and active lifestyle and are distributed through Brooksie Way Minigrants.

The 2019 Brooksie Way Half Marathon, 10k, and 5k are set to begin at 8:00 a.m. Runners and walkers can pick up their race packets at the Fitness Expo September 21st through Saturday, September 22nd. At the Expo, participants will find fitness information, products from sports and nutrition retailers, and more!

WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

The sultry days of summer have faded, but the season of powerful electrical storms is not over in Oakland County, or for the rest of our Great Lake State. Nature’s way does not always follow the calendar and in the last few weeks I’ve witnessed boaters on our local lakes pursuing their passion as thunder was clearly audible, picnickers waiting out a storm under an open picnic shelter instead of retreating to their cars (a much safer option), and most worrisome, kids playing sports in fields to the accompaniment of not so distant thunder. Continue reading →

WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

The Ice Age was coming to an end. Shuffling its 6-ton frame, a shaggy mastodon laboriously crossed a steep esker and trudged towards melt water from a giant block of ice left behind by the Pleistocene Era’s last local retreating glacier. The mastodons that once roamed Oakland County are now extinct, but the glacial evidence of nature’s land sculpting power is unmistakable in many sections of our county. Some of those sites, that once provided habitat for Mastodons, now harbor carnivorous flora and rare secretive creatures. One of those locations is within the Shiawassee Basin Preserve, a 600-acre site in northwestern Oakland County managed by Springfield Township Parks and Recreation. Continue reading →